At the January committee meeting, club runs were discussed at some length and the key points resulting from all this were:

1. Club run guidelines have been revised a little. This includes what is expected of each rider in terms of safety and simplification of the role of the club run leader. The revised guidelines are found here

2. Club run leaders are asked to abide by speed guidelines, our most common issue is speed on ‘B’ runs preclude any faster ‘C’ riders from moving up. So ‘B’ run leaders, please be aware of who’s on your club run and ride appropriately, and faster ‘C’ run riders, offer to lead a ‘B’ run from time to time.

3. The other implications of these guidelines are to fit us in with the expectations of British Cycling and CTC for clubs organising weekly runs.

4. The new guidelines expect newcomers to introduce themselves to club run leaders before the ride starts and carry ID, but realistically, this is unlikely to happen every time, so we encourage leaders to check names of anybody that they don’t recognise at the start, with a formal register list of names still taken at the café (as per current practice).

5. We are investigating having a small number of regular riders having access to an app containing names and emergency contact numbers of Beacon members as a further back up, but we will report on this separately at a later date.

6. Clearly, these changes are designed to help in case of accident en route. If there is an accident or mechanical, clearly no one wants to be scrabbling around an injured rider trying to find out their name.

7. On intro rides, this is a particular requirement, i.e. please get names (and ICE numbers if time allows) before you set off, and also please seek email addresses of riders at the café (this is non-mandatory, but the committee wishes to follow up intro riders on their experience of the day and to seek where we can improve and attract new members, particularly female members)

I know this all sounds a bit formal, but our club runs are highly successful and popular and we want to ensure that they conform to best practice, as well as being fun and testing and convivial and inclusive. So please take a look at the guidelines, continue to lead and participate as you see fit and enjoy your cycling. It is the variety of our club runs that sets us apart, let’s continue to offer new ideas and routes and cafes…. we like ‘new’.

Last edited by WorcsPhil on 18 Jan 2016 23:26, edited 4 times in total.

The one change I would suggest is that intro rides are at the same pace as C rides, rather than being both slower and shorter. They are meant to be an introduction to club riding rather than an alternative to it.
The club may wish to consider, if there is a demand for slower rides and willing leaders, introducing D rides in the summer months adverised as family rides, at the present intro ride pace.

Another point the committee may wish to consider is the large size of some C runs making it difficult to use and predict cafes.
I am not sure how to deal with this problem but the unpredictable numbers makes pre arranging some cafes and rules out certain cafes all together.
Maybe packed lunches or using pubs could occasionally be considered.